Archer Avenue
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Archer Avenue

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"GREENMAN CD REVIEW"

Archer Avenue is a young four-piece indie-rock band based in San Antonio and hailing from all over Texas. We Watched the Headlights, We Watched the Stars follows an independently produced EP, and it's produced by guitar legend Pete Anderson.

With a standard two guitars, bass and drums configuration, the Archers reflect plenty of pop and rock influences, but most closely resemble the Gin Blossoms and the Old 97's. They write their own material, which consists mostly of songs of frustrated love common among 20-somethings. They've got lots of swagger and attitude, they sing nice three- and four-part harmonies, and they all play their instruments with panache.

The material ranges from fast chugging rockers ("Sweet Sixteen") to more mid-tempo fare with hooky, anthemic choruses ("Cops Don't Care"), a little bit of rootsy sound from baritone guitars and a dobro ("Breakdown on N. St. Mary's") and a twangy acoustic ballad ("I Will"). They cover legendary Texas rocker Roky Erickson's "You're Gonna Miss Me." If that sounds like something you'd like, do check them out. They're going to be touring a lot this year, and they seem to be working hard to break out of the pack of mass-produced local and regional acts. - The Greenman Review (Gary Whitehouse)


"THE EDGE MAGAZINE CD REVIEW"


Archer Avenue, based in San Antonio, has recently released an extremely fun disc with plenty of heart titled, "We Watched the Headlights; We Watched the Stars." Honestly and perfectly blending an array of ear pleasing musical styles- ranging from alternative to country to upbeat rock n' roll. Archer Avenue's "We Watched the Headlights; We Watched the Stars " is a perfect soundtrack for any carefree summer night. "We Watched the Headlights; We Watched the Stars" was produced and engineered by Tony Rambo, edited by Sally Browder, and executive producer Pete Anderson. Archer Avenue is Jack, Marc, Stephan, and Dave.

The first track, "Cops Don't Care," is a carefree introduction for what follows. "Sweet Sixteen" is an upbeat and straight forward rock jam. "Radio" is an extremely catchy song that one can expect to hear, well, on the radio. "House of Cards" is a song that has a chorus that will stay with ya. "Breakdown on N. St. Mary's" has swingin' roots in country. "She is America" has an enjoyable pop element. "The Most Permanent Tattoo" has an upbeat sound yet melancholy atmosphere. "Cars and Airplanes" is soft but powerful... and unforgettable. "You're Gonna Miss Me" is an unrelenting rock tune. "I Will" closes the disc strongly combining elements of everything Archer Avenue has covered in the rest of "We Watched the Headlights; We Watched the Stars," in a near ballad format.

Archer Avenue has truly re-captured a fun and honest way of making music. Every song on Archer Avenue's "We Watched the Headlights; We Watched the Stars" is memorable, polished, filled with hooks and accessible lyrics, and a sincere catchiness that provides a great soundtrack for this summer while driving...anywhere. - Zach Marcotte/ The EDGE Magazine, July 2006 Issue


"ALL MUSIC GUIDE CD REVIEW"


by Stewart Mason
One of the most prevalent musical subgenres of the late '80s, roots rock hasn't really been the same ever since Uncle Tupelo and their followers made alt-country the twangy place to be. The first full-length album by San Antonio quartet Archer Avenue, We Watched the Headlights; We Watched the Stars is pure roots rock in its original sense, along the lines of Green on Red and some of the Replacements' later material. The emphasis is on the "rock" half of the equation, but there's an unstudied, lived-in rootsiness to Jack Bonner's shaggy vocals and Marc Sauceda's casually countrified guitar leads. Producer Pete Anderson (Dwight Yoakam, etc.) simply provides a live, uncluttered sound for the direct, rocking tunes, and the band responds with some true winners: the opening "Cops Don't Care" is an instant classic of frustrated youthful urges, while "Breakdown on N. St. Mary's" adds a two-step rhythm and steel guitar accents to an unexpectedly gritty rocker. We Watched the Headlights; We Watched the Stars is a solid, entertaining slice of good old-fashioned Texas rock & roll that bodes well for Archer Avenue's future. - The All Music Guide


"HYPERACTIVE MUSIC MAGAZINE CD REVIEW"


The first full length album from San Antonio’s Archer Avenue finds the boys flirting with garage rock (“Cops Don’t Care), dabbling in alt. country (Breakdown on N. St. Mary’s), and kicking out the jams (covering Roky Erickson’s “You’re Gonna Miss Me”). Helmed by producer Pete Anderson (Dwight Yoakam, Michelle Shocked, Roy Orbison), We Watched the Headlights, We Watched the Stars comfortably incorporates a wide range of styles and influences, showcasing the band’s diverse yet cohesive of “Texas Rock…” Headlights is a guilty pleasure from a promising young band. - Hyperactive/ Jessie Shires


"SKRUTT (SWEDEN) CD REVIEW"


ARCHER AVENUE-WE WATCHED THE HEADLIGHTS, WE WATCHED THE STARS(CD-THAT PHANTOM SOUND 2637) Popmusik men ack så bra sådan. Tänk så mycket band det finns i världen egentligen. Archer Avenue är ett popband med ganska mycket attityd och det finns en hel del powerpopinslag i detta så man blir inte uttråkad av något sliskigt popvidunder. Jag kan tänka mig att grupper som Replacements, Big Star, Soul Asylum, Goo Goo Dolls har varit influenser för den här gruppen. Kul att lyssna på ett tag och passar egentligen lika bra att sätta på när svärmor kommer som när man skall ha fest.(SEX) 27/9-06

Translation:
Popmusic but really good pop. Imagine how many bands there are around the world. Archer Avenue is a popband with really much attitude and there´s a lot of powerpopinfluences in their music sp you don´t get bored of some popshit. I can imagine that groups like Replacements, Big Star, Soul Asylum, Goo Goo Dolls all of them have been influences for this group. It's fun to listen to this for a while and it suits as good to listen to when your mother in law comes and when you have a party.(SIX) 27/9-06
- www.skrutt.com


"House of Cards: Archer Avenue hooks up with Pete Anderson, records an album in Burbank, and contemplates living in the same city"


For Archer Avenue, rehearsals are a long-distance proposition.

With its members spread over four cities in two states, the roots-rock quartet has learned to collaborate via the postal system: Frontman Jack Bonner writes a batch of new songs, records a demo, and mails it from Houston (where he teaches high -school English) to drummer Dave Volk in Phoenix, guitarist Marc Sauceda in El Paso, and bassist Steve de la Cruz in San Antonio. They learn their parts over a period of months, rehearse once if they’re lucky, and hope for the best when they hit the stage together.

This working method is typical of the way Archer Avenue jumped into the deep-end of the pool in the summer of 2003. Before they’d figured whether or not they were a band, they recorded a song (“Greyhound”) at Monster Music Studios for a compilation disc. They liked the results so much, they quickly committed to making an EP, which they called Left of the Dial.

“When we went to do Left of the Dial, we rehearsed on a Wednesday, played the [White] Rabbit on a Thursday, and then went in the studio on a Saturday. We hadn’t even really rehearsed together,” says Volk, the band’s de-facto spokesman and a third-year law student at Arizona State University. “But the tracks sounded good, and those were the ones that we gave to labels, so it was cool that they held up. It sounds cheesy, but we all felt that there was a chemistry there.”

One of the people impressed by their demo was Pete Anderson, the veteran guitar virtuoso whose fluid, chicken-picking style defined Dwight Yoakam’s sound for two decades. Anderson met Sauceda two years ago at an El Paso club, where Anderson was booked to play with country singer Moot Davis. Sauceda gave Anderson a ride to a coffee shop that night, and just happened to pop the Archer Avenue EP into his car’s CD player. The next night, Anderson played in Phoenix, and Volk was ready for him with a copy of Left of the Dial.

“Of course, I cornered him and just kept talking to him,” Volk recalls. “I’d met him back in the Dwight days and you couldn’t get two words out of him, but this time, because it was just him and the band, it was good. We sort of hit it off with him on a buddy level. I’d send him stuff in the mail like a lunatic.”

Anderson’s label eventually approached the band about playing an El Paso show with him. When Anderson witnessed the band’s live command and its ability to stir up a club audience of about 100 people, his curiosity was piqued. Over breakfast, Sauceda half-joked, “We should record with you.” Much to his surprise, Anderson responded, “Yeah, we could do something.”

Volk says: “We were sort of persistent in a way, but we weren’t annoying about it. Plus, he thought we were cool guys and he liked the songs a lot.”

Anderson invited the group to record in Burbank, California at his DogBone Studios, with Anderson serving as executive producer, Tony Rambo producing/engineering, and Sally Browder editing. When they arrived in California last June for the sessions, however, the band found that Anderson and Browder had meticulously dissected their 20-plus-song demo tape and determined what shape the album needed to take.

For one thing, they whittled away about half the songs Archer Avenue had given them. For another, they voiced strong ideas about needed changes in the remaining songs.

“They wanted to tighten the songs, to make the songs a little bit shorter, a lot of times get to the solo a little quicker,” Volk says. “But mostly, just to make the songs more interesting. It was stuff that we didn’t think of off the bat, being in the band.”

Forced to learn new arrangements on the fly, the group rose to the challenge. But things became a bit thornier when they completed their backing vocals and Rambo incredulously asked, “Where are the rest of them?”

“That first night we just couldn’t come up with the parts,” Volk says. “I don’t know what it was. On the spot, we couldn’t do it that night. But we took more time the next day and were able to do it.”

If the process was nerve-wracking, the finished product, titled We Watched the Headlights, We Watched the Stars, suggests that Rambo, Anderson, and Browder knew what they were doing. The band sounds bigger and more muscular than it did on Left of the Dial, without sacrificing any immediacy. The group’s classicist streak reveals itself with “Radio,” with response chants that pay tribute to the Modern Lovers’ “Roadrunner,” and the opening “Cops Don’t Care,” with its nod to Van Morrison’s “Gloria.”

Much of the time they suggest a more earnest (and less relentlessly clever) Old 97’s crossed with the Gin Blossoms, particularly on the bouncy “House of Cards.” The group reworked three songs from Left of the Dial, and the difference between the originals and the remakes is the difference between spirited demos and a polished record.

The group’s stint at DogBone came a week after former Meat Puppet Curt Kirkwood had completed a recording project there. “He left his lyrics everywhere, so we were joking that we were going to have a new song called ‘Beautiful Weapon,’” Volk says. “And he’s an artist and he drew all this weird stuff on the wall.”

Volk completes his law studies in May (focusing in entertainment law), and he says the band will likely settle in San Antonio at that point. In the meantime, they’ll be focused on promoting We Watched the Headlights, with a regional release set for January 3 and a national release coming a month later. That doesn’t mean, however, that the band’s New Year’s Day gig at Jack’s Patio Bar & Grill constitutes a “CD-release” show.

“The thing about making it a CD-release type of thing, we want people to buy the record, but there shouldn’t be a specific show where they’re obligated to buy it,” Volk says. “It should be one of those things where people see the band, like it, and think about buying the CD. Instead of saying, ‘This is the official bring-your-extra-10-bucks show.’” •

By Gilbert Garcia - The San Antonio Current- Dec. 22, 2005


"ABOUT.COM CD REVIEW"


Archer Avenue - We Watched the Headlights, We Watched the Stars

Guide Rating - 4 out of 5 stars.

The Bottom Line
Archer Avenue falls into this category strictly due to their all-Americana alternative sound. They are as country as The Refreshments (or Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers), they are really Americana rock, roots-flavored hard-driving alternative, with a cheery delivery and a solid, tight sound that may be reminiscent of a few of their influences, but is all their own.

Pros
"Radio"
"Breakdown on N. St. Mary's"
"She Is America"

Cons
Well, it's not country.

Description
Produced by Pete Anderson, Tony Rambo, and edited by Sally Browder.
First full-length disc for the independent, alternative band.
Nine original tracks with a cover of Roky Erickson's "You're Gonna Miss Me."

Guide Review - Archer Avenue - We Watched the Headlights, We Watched the Stars
I can pretty much always trust that if Pete Anderson's name is attached to a project, it's going to be something worthwhile. Such is the case here, with Texas alt-rock/Americana band Archer Avenue, a tight little quartet who had been playing the circuit in Texas, with one extended play (EP) to their credit, when Anderson watched their act while they were opening for Moot Davis and the Cool Deal. Anderson felt their EP didn't quite capture their sound, so herded them out to California to record a full-length disc at his Dogbone Studios. The result is "We Watched the Headlights, We Watched the Stars" (which may be my favorite album title of all time).

Archer Avenue have a touch of a nineties sound, a little like the Refreshments, a little like the Gin Blossoms, a lot of their own unique take on things. Their lyrics are snappy and intelligent, and their songs quick-grabbing (written mostly by rhythm guitarist and vocalist Jack Bonner, with other Archer Ave boys Marc Sauceda and Dave Volk adding their pens, as well), and their playing excellent, especially Marc Sauceda's sharp guitar playing.

These are some personable guys. They're out there drumming up interest for their independent release without the help of some PR firm, and I gotta hand it to 'em. I enjoyed the heck out of their disc and I hope they end up opening for Moot (or Dave Insley, or any of my other "usuals") down here in Phoenix some time.
- Kathy Coleman/ About.com


"EL PASO TIMES CD REVIEW"


Archer Avenue new CD slick blend of catchy hooks

Adriana M. Chávez
El Paso Times
Saturday, January 28, 2006

Writing music is hard enough for a band whose members work and go to school.

But for Archer Avenue, writing music must be a large feat, considering its members live in two states and four cities.

However, on the band's first full-length album, "We Watched the Headlights, We Watched the Stars," the band's sound meshes flawlessly, evoking their alt-country influences, including Ryan Adams and the Refreshments.

The band's follow-up to its self-released debut EP, "Left of the Dial," is a slick blend of catchy hooks making for a great album to take along on a road trip through the Texas countryside. The band consists of drummer Dave Volk of Phoenix, guitarist Marc Sauceda of El Paso resident, bass player Stephan De La Cruz of San Antonio and vocalist and guitarist Jack Bonner of Houston.

The album's first track, "Cops Don't Care," summarizes the rest of the album's sound, despite the kooky song title, and showcases Bonner's Dave Pirner-like voice, while "House of Cards" is mostly guitar-driven and would probably make an excellent second single.

But the song that probably hits closer to the band's country roots is "Breakdown on N. St. Mary's," a bouncy almost Tex-Mex tune that almost made me wish it was a bit longer than its 2:01 running time.

"We Watched the Headlights, We Watched the Stars" was produced by Pete Anderson, who has worked with Dwight Yoakam, the Meat Puppets and k.d. lang. It was released in early January after a tour, which took the band through New Mexico and Texas, including stops in El Paso and Las Cruces.

To order a copy of "We Watched the Headlights, We Watched the Stars" or "Left of the Dial," visit www.archeravenuemusic.com.

Adriana M. Chávez may be reached at achavez@elpasotimes.com; 546-6117. - El Paso Times (Living Section)


"SA ROCKS CD REVIEW"


Sunday, July 02, 2006

We Watched the Headlights, We Watched the Stars

Why do I put off doing these cd reviews for so long? I think they intimidate me for some reason. I received a copy of We Watched the Headlights, We Watched the Stars from Archer Avenue several months ago and am just now getting around to doing a review. Sorry, guys! I promise I’ll get more on the ball with these reviews. Here we go...

You know that great time in your life where you’re young, it’s summer, you have no worries and life is all about cruising around listening to the radio, hanging out and having a few beers, and of course, thinking about members of the opposite sex? We Watched the Headlights, We Watched the Stars really transported me back to that time.

Archer Avenue’s latest effort is straight-up rock-n-roll about the simple things in life, and girls in particular. With gritty vocals, tight uncomplicated guitar solos, nice backing harmonies and a slightly Southern tinge, Archer Avenue has created a very refreshing and distinctive sound.

The tracks that caught my attention in particular were:

1) “Cops Don’t Care”

I was thinking about the fourth of July
When I was so happy, so happy I could die.
We sat on the hood of your father’s car.
We watched the headlights; we watched the stars.

Really takes me back...

2) “Breakdown on N. St. Mary’s”

Yep, good ol’ St. Mary’s strip...it even mentions a certain place we all know:

He’s drinking whiskey at the Rabbit on another Thursday night.

This song is about as SanAnto as it gets. It has a very Texas sound...actually it’s the closest they come to country music.

3) The cover of “You’re Gonna Miss Me,” originally by Roxy Erickson and the 13th Floor Elevators.

Very cool old sixties tune and great job covering it!

If you’re not familiar with this song and would like to hear the original, there are several videos of it on YouTube. Just get on there and search for 13th Floor Elevators.

4) “She is America”

These lyrics cracked me up:

She is America; she is a shooting star.
I’m gonna see her just as soon as I can buy a car.
A Grand National, I’m saving all my cash;
I know they’re ugly but who cares ‘cause they go really fast.


So, there you go. Great job. A very enjoyable listen.

We Watched the Headlights, We Watched the Stars is available online at Archer Avenue's Record Store for only $10. You can also pick up a copy at Hogwild Records. Or if you're like me and usually download your music, it's available on iTunes and several other download services (I know I found some on Napster). Check out archeravenuemusic.com for more information on the album and Archer Avenue.

There, that wasn’t so hard... - sarocks.blogspot.com


Discography

We Watched the Headlights, We Watched the Stars (May 2007)

Left of the Dial (June 2004)

Photos

Bio

Archer Avenue is a rootsy pwer pop band from San Antonio, TX whose music has been compared to a cross between “the Gin Blossoms and the Old 97’s” (San Antonio Current). Born, raised, and still rockin' the Texas Club SArcher Avenue is a rootsy power pop band from San Antonio, TX whose music has been compared to a cross between “the Gin Blossoms and the Old 97’s” (San Antonio Current). Born, raised, and still rockin' the Texas Club Scene, Archer Avenue's debut full length "We Watched the Headlights, We Watched the Stars" (produced by Pete Anderson, Tony Rambo, and Sally Browder) has garnished critical acclaim worldwide, featuring nine original tracks as well as a cover of Roky Erickson’s “You’re Gonna Miss Me” (That Phantom Sound Records/Burnside Distribution Corporation). Songs from "We Watched the Headlights; We Watched the Stars" were spun on over 200 FM stations across the US, charted 14 on CMJ's Top Adds Chart (Dec. 2006), showcased at the Burnside Distribution Showcase and Red Gorilla Music Fest during SXSW 06/07, and featured on MTV's Real World Awards Bash (April 2008) and independent film "A Wolf Walks By" (Sapereaude Pictures). The band is endorsed by Knucklehead Strings. Archer Avenue is working on a new record to follow-up the critically acclaimed "Headlights" debut. Go see them live to hear their newest tunes!!